Investing.com – Bitcoin and other major virtual currencies prices edged down on Monday as Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) followed Apple’s footsteps to ban on-device mining apps on its Play Store.
Bitcoin was trading at $8,208.0 by 11:23PM ET (03:23 GMT) on the Bitfinex exchange, down 0.1% in the last 24 hours.
Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was down 0.5% to $465.53 on the Bitifinex exchange.
Ripple’s XRP token traded 0.2% lower to $0.45434 on the Poloniex exchange.
Meanwhile, Litecoin also lost 0.4% and traded at 84.14 on Thursday.
Google said it no longer allows apps that mine cryptocurrency on devices to appear on its app store, although apps that process mining in the cloud would be permitted.
"We don't allow apps that mine cryptocurrency on devices. We permit apps that remotely manage the mining of cryptocurrency," Google said in its updated policy, noting that the move is consistent with the industry’s approach.
The news followed Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s decision to ban cryptocurrency mining on both iOS devices and Mac in June.
Elsewhere, Nasdaq held a “closed door” meeting with traditional trading exchange experts and cryptocurrency executives to discuss the industry’s future, as authorities continued to explore the best approach to adopt virtual currencies in a legitimate way.
Bloomberg reported that the meeting, which was held in Chicago recently, focused on future cryptocurrency rules and regulations and how modern technological improvements in surveillance tools are required to keep track on the regulated security token industry.
In other news, Mastercard President and CEO Ajay Banga’s comments caught some attention as he described cryptocurrency as “junk”.
“I think cryptocurrency is junk. The idea of an anonymized currency produced by people who have to mine it, the value of which can fluctuate wildly – that to me is not the way that any medium of exchange deserves to be considered as a medium of exchange,” said Banga.